TV REVIEW: HBO spins a tale about Phil Spector

Saturday

Mar 23, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 23, 2013 at 11:11 PM

What writer David Mamet is after in the movie “Phil Spector,” which premieres at 9 Sunday night on HBO, is not just the subjectivity of the criminal justice system, but also how there are two sides to every story.

Al Alexander

Give David Mamet credit for being honest. Where celebrated films such as “Lincoln” and “Hitchcock” were criticized for playing loose with the truth, the pride of Cambridge is right up front about “Phil Spector” largely being a work of fiction. But even if it’s false, there’s a lot that’s true about his fascinating look at the Lana Clarkson murder case, which the writer-director approaches not as a bio-pic, but as a lesson in perception.

He’s not interested in whether or not the legendary music producer was guilty, although he makes a pretty good case that Spector might be innocent. No, what Mamet is after in the movie, which premieres at 9 Sunday night on HBO, is not just the subjectivity of the criminal justice system, but also how there are two sides to every story. Spector himself, played with measured insanity by Al Pacino in full “hoo-ah” mode, specifically mentions Marilyn Monroe. Was she, as legend dictates, a sad, lonely woman who took her own life? Or was she just a woman too drunk to keep track of how many pills she had swallowed? In another of Spector’s crazed rants, he cites the Kennedy brothers and O.J. Simpson as people who’ve benefited greatly from favorable images even though all four were proven capable of evil.

Which brings us to Spector, the wild-haired eccentric whom the media generally proffered to be unstable and abusive to women. And unlike the Kennedys and Simpson, he looked creepy and sinister, a Minotaur, as Mamet’s clever script often compares him. Where society was hesitant to believe that Ted Kennedy would allow a young woman to drown, it was easy to accept the prosecution’s theory that Spector lured a beautiful starlet back to his “castle,” where things got so ugly he pulled out a gun, shoved it into Clarkson’s mouth and pressed the trigger. But if that were true, why was there almost no blood splatter on the white jacket Spector wore that night in February 2003?

That’s just one of the intriguing questions the movie raises, as celebrated defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden (wife of famed forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden) is summoned by Spector’s lawyer, Bruce Cutler (a powerful Jeffrey Tambor), to find a way to sway what promised to be a highly prejudicial jury into granting their client a benefit of a doubt. Played with her usual array of nuance and class, Helen Mirren fully inhabits the body of the feisty and ever-inquisitive Kenney Baden, who plays the Beauty to Spector’s Beast. Their numerous encounters are electric, as the two Oscar winners go toe to toe in heated exchanges that make it clear that Spector is indeed a nut, but a nut without a clear motive for killing Clarkson.

But Pacino being Pacino, it’s extremely difficult for him to say when, often playing to the back row even though the camera is tight on his craggy face. Disappointingly, Mamet, who helped Pacino garner an Oscar nod for his work in “Glengarry Glen Ross,” does nothing to rein in his over-emoting star. He gets a measure of revenge, however, by forcing Pacino to don some of the most hideous rugs in creation to copy Spector’s – how should I say this – unique look. The Albert Einstein fright wig that Spector famously wore the day he was supposed to testify is sure to become a fan favorite. Yet despite all the preening and screaming, Pacino seldom fails to cut straight to the soul of a character who is both brilliant and pathetic, so much so that you might find yourself feeling sorry for Spector.

Mirren, on the other hand, is pure class, instilling Kenney Baden with much the same moxie and wherewithal she brought to her “Prime Suspect” character, Jane Tennison. What a thrill it is to nip at her heels, as she doggedly pursues plausible theories for how Lana Clarkson, a failed actress, ended up dead in the macabre museum Spector called home. That includes a very convincing scenario for how Clarkson may have accidentally shot herself.

The movie closes just before the completion of Spector’s 2007 trial, which ended, fittingly, in a hung jury. Two years later, at his second trial, Spector was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years behind bars, where the creator of smashes like “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling,” “He’s a Rebel,” “Be My Baby” and The Beatles’ “Let It Be” is likely now absorbing hits instead of producing them. But in Mamet’s view of the case, that’s neither here nor there. All he’s concerned with – and rightly so – is the relationship between two geniuses from the fields of law and music who discovered the hard way that human nature and justice don’t always mix. And it’s a note that sadly continues to reverberate.

PHIL SPECTOR Cast includes Al Pacino, Helen Mirren and Jeffrey Tambor. Written and directed by David Mamet. Airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on HBO and re-airs periodically throughout the month on HBO. Also available on On Demand, beginning Monday. Grade: B+.